Djelt
by timeteen23
Summary: Apologies for unimaginative title, but I just wanted to get this published. So, basically Rose gets sick after being kindnapped by aliens. The aliens contact the Doctor and tell him they've planted a chip in her brain that will electrocute her unless he surrenders to them. *I WILL finish this eventually... Hang in there! Thanks for reading, it's very encouraging :)


Chapter 1

"What's wrong?" The Doctor asked from across the table. Rose glanced up from her cereal.

"Nothing major. Just this headache, is all." She said, resuming her study of her breakfast, which lay untouched on the table.

"Rose, you haven't eaten anything since we got back from Zeffon yesterday. Must be some headache."

Rose grunted in response. Yes, it was some headache alright. It had started yesterday on Zeffon, a peaceful planet, so the Doctor had said. They hadn't expected trouble. However, as was generally the case, trouble happened.

They had discovered soon after they landed that Zeffon had been conquered by a bloodthirsty race called the Djelt, who had enslaved the Zeffons and planned to subdivide the planet to wealthy alien buyers. As usual, the Doctor saved the day, rescuing Zeffon and its inhabitants and sending the Djelt away.

But not before they had kidnapped Rose. She had been unconscious throughout the abduction so she didn't know anything about what had happened to her except the identity of her captors, and the Doctor had found her lying, unconscious but uninjured, outside the TARDIS several hours after her disappearance. The Doctor was livid, but as he hadn't found anything wrong with her the affair was considered trivial and forgotten. Since then, Rose had suffered an unceasing headache that, whilst puzzling the Doctor, seemed harmless enough.

"Rose, please eat something. One bite. Please?"

Rose sighed. Pensively, she stirred her spoon through the milk, watching as the cereal flakes swirled around the bowl. Her stomach turned as she lifted a spoonful to her lips. She hesitated. _'This is ridiculous,'_ she thought. She shoved the spoon into her mouth and, screwing up her face, swallowed.

"How was that?" The Doctor asked.

Rose opened her mouth to reply, but a sudden stab of pain seared through her gut. Nearly falling off her chair, she hurried to the bathroom, where she promptly doubled over the toilet bowl and retched.

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The Doctor watched Rose's battle with her breakfast. He knew something was wrong.

"How was that?" He asked, as soon as she'd swallowed her spoonful. Rose answered him with a pained expression before rushing to the bathroom, knocking her chair over in the progress. He followed, alarmed, to find her kneeling on the bathroom floor, dry-retching. He touched her shoulder.

"Rose, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have made you eat."

"S'all right."

He started as she lurched forward again, hands gripping the sides of the toilet bowl, straining to regurgitate… Nothing.

"Rose, this won't make you feel any better. There's nothing in your stomach."

"Can't stop."

"You can. First off, turn away from the toilet."

Rose hesitated, then, shakily, turned to face him.

"Now, slow your breathing. Deep breaths. Good. Try to relax your stomach muscles. That's right." The Doctor eyed her, concerned. "Better?"

"Yep, thanks."

"How's the head?" He asked.

"Feels like it's splitting in two." Rose drew a line with her finger directly down the middle of her head, from front to back. "Across there."

"Rose," He asked, "When did this headache start? Right after the Djelt kidnapped you, yeah?"

"Uh-huh."

"God I'm thick! Rose, I'm getting old. How could I be so thick?"

"What? You think my headache could have something to do with the Djelt?"

"It's very likely." He felt like kicking himself. How could he have overlooked that possibility before now? Rose could be seriously damaged. Who knew what they'd done to her?

"I'll get the sonic." He said. As he reached the control room, he saw the console screen flicker on.


End file.
